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hadn’t dealt with labels yet, I’d been too concerned with letting Ashleigh set the pace. “My girlfriend.” Girlfriend sounded good, and I had to consciously stop the corners of my mouth from curling too far up. I didn’t want the sales assistant to think I was hitting on her.
    “Do you have anything in mind?” she asked.
    I glanced around the shop. Ashleigh would look good in any of the things in here. “Any colors you like or don’t like?” I shrugged. Perhaps this was too much too soon. I didn’t want to push, or make Ashleigh feel that what we had was all about sex. Surely she got that now?
    “Any budget you had in mind?”
    “I want something nice. That she would choose for herself. I don’t want her to think that I’m buying it for me.” I wasn’t sure that would be much help to the assistant, but she just smiled and led me over to one of the racks.
    “What color hair does she have? And skin?”
    “Almost black hair and light skin. Quite pale. She says she burns in the sun.” It was the reason we used to spend our summers underneath trees as children.
    “Red would look beautiful, a deep red, like this.” She held up a bra.
    I nodded. It would be gorgeous against her skin. I tried not to imagine too vividly exactly what she would look like. That would only lead to trouble.
    “So were you thinking bra and panties, or maybe a bustier or garters?”
    Holy crap, this was getting complicated. “What would you buy if someone gave you a gift card?”
    “I’d skip the garters, buy two pairs of panties and take the bra and bustier.”
    “Sounds good.” I wanted Ashleigh to love her gift, but spoiling my girlfriend was a new experience. An adjustment. Ashleigh was changing me in so many ways.
    It took what seemed like an hour and a half to gift wrap the lot, which seemed an overly convoluted process that included wrapping it in white paper, boxing it, tying bows, wrapping it again—this time in black paper—and then placing it in an enormous gift bag. There was a distinct possibility that Ashleigh would think I’d bought her a car rather than just underwear.
    As I headed back to work, my phone buzzed in my jacket pocket. “I don’t have any pictures of you on my phone.” I’d realized as the assistant and I were trying to decide Ashleigh’s size that I wanted a photo of her.
    “Er, hello. Were you just thinking that as I was calling?”
    “It’s all I’ve been thinking about. I want to get you naked and take photos.” The thought had my dick stirring in my pants.
    “You’re a pervert.”
    “I just love your body.” And mind and soul. “You need to learn how to accept compliments.”
    “It’s just weird. I’m used to you teasing me, giving me shit for no reason at all, and then me turning round and giving it to you straight back.”
    I understood why she thought it was weird, but I didn’t feel the same way. For me, the transition she’d made in my head from friend to lover had been effortless. Convincing her she could trust me was more challenging, but my emotions were very clear. “You’ll get used to it, baby. Anyway, shouldn’t you be saving lives or something? You’re not normally able to call in the middle of the day. What’s going on?”
    “Again, with the palliative care thing. My patients don’t get cured.”
    “Oh, yes, I think I remember you saying that before.” I couldn’t tame the grin that had taken over my face. I could tell by her voice she was wearing one similar.
    “Now, that’s better. This Ash and Luke I can do.”
    “You can do Ashleigh and Luke 2.0 as well. You just need to have a little faith.”
    “I do. I’m just nervous about tonight. We haven’t really discussed what we’re going to say or how we’re going to say it, and it’s just . . . I thought maybe we should have a plan.”
    “My plan is that you’re not allowed to break up with me, no matter what reaction Haven has or doesn’t have.”
    “That’s not a plan.”
    “That’s